GOOD SADDLERY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 556, 10 July 1909, Page 14

GOOD SADDLERY.

. THE DECLINE OF THE INDUSTRY. • (By TelesraßlL.--Special OorrcspondonU - V - Chrlstchurctt, Jnly v 8. 'Judging by stateiiients'made by., witnesses ai the \ Arbitration.' Court tb-day, the saddlery industry is; apprdaching 'its" decline 'and • fall. ■ Oil© employer said that the profits' had, .been growing , less " and less, and- last: year his firm sustained a loss in. that branch of ; their business. . Oiler employers said that tho,profits,.of the. trade, were slow.and small. "Good saddlery," declared a ness,, "disappeared when motor-cars - came in, .and the colpnial manufacturing trade dropped "down. 'to tho rougher work;" The sort of . people, he continued, who went in for. high-class harness. outfits were, j those who' purchased motor-cars, when those rehicks became fashionable, and the consequenoo waa that the demand for, the better work fell, to nothing. ■ For the, cheaper diss, onthe ■ other, hand, - the; demand. continued, but' the imported article could bo'- sold at less than it could bo,mado. locally,, and/'it' i • was; as, much as the trade could do to' 1 6tand this double shock. As an instance, he mentioned- that; o Bet. of .English . harness wellmado- and hand-stitched could be landed, 'here at :£5 Is. 4d., whereas,, to make a similar ..set' in ..the Dominion .would, cost.:at least £6 4s. 6d—r£3 165.. 6d. for, the bare material, and £2 83. for tbo labour required.- 1 • ■ ' f., ■ Local bag-makers are also experiencing some trouble' on x acoount of Australian importations: It .was, stotedi.by one witness that tho small type of brief-bag could bo imported' from Australia - at accost' of 4d; per inch,' whereas' it would cost' per inch to produce a eitfiiiar bag here.

. Wo to acknowledge tho receipt of a copy of tho Siam Directory (tho first ptfblisned), issued from the office of the Siam Ob- !. server," and edited by Mr. H. G. dough.. It gives* the official list, the nameß of foreign consuls,'thooffioorsof the Siamese navy .and army, and, is the "Who's' Who" and "Burke's Peerage" of Siam in one. The English and foreign residents of the State are set out tn an alphabetical list, together with the officials and employees of every • society or commercial firm operating in Siam. Some, of tho information ia; quite Uluminating. Under the heading "Siamese Titles" it tells the reader that "the royal and princely t title of Somdetch Chao Fa indicates that the prince is of, royal blood on both sides," also, "the son of a Somdetch Chao Fa or of a Phra Ong Chao is a Mom Chao." Under the same heading is, the information that "Ai" is the designation given to a criminal. The king rejoices m the appellation, of Somdetch Phra. Par amindra Main ChulaloDgkorn. The price o£ the publication is fivo ticals. . ' .